Fusion time for Indo-US relations [Times of India]
INDRANI BAGCHI
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2005 11:20:57 PM ]
NEW DELHI: When former US President Bill Clinton came here in 2000, Indo-US energy cooperation was all about solar energy, windmills and hydrogen fuel cells. By the time George Bush lands here towards the end of 2005, this will be about nuclear energy.
That, in essence, is the distance the two countries have travelled in the last five years.
US's biggest nuclear power company, Westinghouse, is vying for a $8 billion contract for four nuclear power plants in China with the world's biggest, Areva SA of France.
That is the scenario India is working towards — with a projected 20,000 MW in nuclear energy on the drafting table.
Condoleezza Rice signalled the Bush administration's willingness to end over 31 years of nuclear energy blockade of India. Whether this will translate into reality is another matter, and how far the US is willing to go too is another matter. But as senior Indian government sources said: "The difference is the willingness to move away from a traditional theological approach to India's nuclear power aspirations."
The roadmap ahead is long and tortuous. There are the non-proliferation lobbies in the Congress and the administration to work through. There are also the "obligations" of the US under the NPT and as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). The US's ordeal with Iran may be prompting it to re-interpret the NPT (which, incidentally is up for review later this year). Iran is technically within its rights to enrich uranium for nuclear power.
But the Bush administration, according to some reports, is looking for a way to define a new class of nations which cannot be trusted with such technology, regardless of their right to have it. By that same logic, India aims to be among the countries that can be trusted, despite it staying out of the treaty. Therefore, India will be following this debate in the US with great interest.
But the crucial point here is the political will of the US administration to push the changes through. And the ways in which India makes it easier for US to follow through with these decisions. Two important events recently may have a bearing on how the US views India's claims to be a legitimate nuclear power.
First is an NSG outreach programme that was started with India in 2004. That was also the year China joined the multilateral voluntary group. This outreach is the first step towards a situation where India can push its claims. Interestingly, Pakistan foreign office spokesman Jalil Jilani said on Tuesday that Pakistan too wanted to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
The second event was a quiet visit by the head of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, led by its commissioner Jeffrey Merrifield, which visited the Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board in February. From all accounts, Merrifield went back impressed with India's nuclear safety record.
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